ational Precautions.=--That young children naturally tend to give
their attention to strong stimuli, is a matter of considerable moment to
the primary teacher. It is for this cause, among others, that reasonable
quiet and order should prevail in the class-room during the recitation.
When the pupil is endeavouring to fix his attention upon a selected
problem, say the relation of the square foot to the square yard, any
undue stimulation of his senses from the school-room environment could
not fail to distract his attention from the problem before him. For the
same reason, the external conditions should be such as are not likely to
furnish unusual stimulations, as will be the case if the class-room is
on a busy street and must be ventilated by means of open windows.
Finally, in the use of illustrative materials, the teacher should see
that the concrete matter will not stimulate the child unduly in ways
foreign to the lesson topic. For example, in teaching a nature lesson on
the crow, the teacher would find great difficulty in keeping the
children's attention on the various topics of the lesson, if he had
before the class a live crow that kept cawing throughout the whole
lesson period. Nor would it seem a very effective method of attracting
attention to the problem of a lesson, if the teacher were continually
shouting and waving his arms at the pupils.

NON-VOLUNTARY ATTENTION

=Nature of Non-voluntary Attention.=--On account of the part played by
interest in the focusing of attention, it is possible to distinguish a
second type of spontaneous attention in which the mind seems directly
attracted to an object of thought because of a natural satisfaction
gained from contemplating the subject. The lover, apparently without any
determination, and without any external stimulus to suggest the topic,
finds his attention ever centring itself upon the image of his fair
lady. The young lad, also, without any apparent cause, turns his
thoughts constantly to his favourite game. Here the impulse to attend is
evidently from within, rather than from without, and arises from the
interest that the mind has in the particular experience. This type of
attention is especially manifest when trains of ideas pass through the
mind without any apparent end in view, one idea suggesting another in
accordance with the prevailing mood. The mind, in a half passive state,
thinks of last evening, then of the house of a friend, then of the
persons met th